Tag: Iq Software Services Point Of Sale Software Systems

Precious time is often lost through the handling of Point Of Sale Software Systems . Similarly, the more cash is handled the greater the security risk in stores. Fortunately, Point of Sale (POS) technology is making better control of cash in retail stores possible, resulting in benefit for both staff and customers.

One German furniture company has estimated that the payment process and handling of cash at the checkout takes between 15 to 25 seconds. As this is only one part of processing pos system, 15 to 25 seconds is quite substantial time and, when the seconds are calculated for the cash handling from every sale throughout the day…till operators are spending more time on this process than most business owners would like.

Then, there is also the concern of cash robbery and theft. On any given day in a retail business, one, a few or many more employees will handle cash. Think how many different times and how many different people will handle cash in a supermarket on any one day. It is also probable that many managers are reconciling cash and making deposits, which is why they use point of sale systems.

How Do You Select the Best Point Of Sale Systems in Point Of Sale Software Systems ?

There are a number of channels of distribution available to the producer, which may be employed by him to bring his products to the market and use point of sale software. Consumer goods may be distributed generally through channels, in each of which the manufacturers may use the sales branch or sales office as the additional alternative. One of the channels used is Producer-Consumer, where no middleman is involved. Sales are made from house to house or by direct mail.

A second channel is Producer-Retailer-Consumer, by which goods may be purchased directly from manufacturers. Retail stores may also be opened by manufacturers by this channel.

A stockist or distributor or wholesaler is also a large sized operator but not on par with the marketer or sole selling agent in level, size and territory of operation. Stock holding and sub-distribution, as per the policies laid down by the manufacturers or the marketers, are the main functions of stockists/distributors pos retail equipment.

What to Look for in a Retail Point of Sale System

The term point-of-sale is used to describe a variety of things. This can include the checkout counter in a store or a place where transactions occur. More frequently, the phrase refers to a computerized cash register. The commonly used abbreviation for point-of-sale is POS. Each letter in the abbreviation is pronounced individually (e.g. P-O-S) versus pronouncing the abbreviation itself (e.g. paws).

When computers were first invented, large retailers were the first to implement point-of-sale systems to help automate many of the tasks involved with operating a retail store. These computers were very large and expensive. This limited the adoption of point-of-sale systems to large retailers such as grocery chains. The introduction of low cost personal computers during the 1980s allowed retail stores of all sizes to improve efficiencies with the help of pos systems.

A common point-of-sale system includes a computer, cash drawer, receipt printer, pole display, bar code scanner, magnetic swipe reader, modem and point-of-sale software. Each piece provides the following functionality:

- Personal Computer - Operates the POS software and provides hardware interfaces for devices such as printers, credit card readers and so on.

- Cash Drawer - A lock box that stores cash and is triggered to open by the pos software.

- Receipt Printer - Prints a paper copy of the sales transaction for the customer.

- Pole Display - LED display that faces the customer and shows each item and price scan.

As you can see, the simple point-of-sale system grew into a powerful information system for managers and store owners. Today, point-of-sale systems continue to innovate and some even include:

- eCommerce integration

- Integrated accounting

- CRM - Customer Relationship Module

- Electronic payment processing

- Gift card management

- Service order management

- Marketing

- Revolving accounts receivable

- Customer traffic counters

- Integrated video surveillance

- Open To Buy planning

- Linear inventory modeling

- Special order management

- EDI (electronic ordering)

- And much more...

As retail management systems continue to add more robust features, the term point-of-sale will continue to refer to just a module within the overall system.

What to Look for in a Retail Point of Sale System

In a competitive market, point of sale displays help solve several of a marketer's short-term hurdles. The impact of sales promotion measures is not durable like the results obtained through advertising and personal selling. Sale displays by and large are understood and practiced as a catalyst and as a supporting facility to advertising and personal selling.

Point of sale displays differs from advertising in many ways. Whereas advertising is mostly an indirect and subtle approach towards persuading consumers to buy a product, sale displays is a direct and almost open inducement to consumers to immediately try the product. Secondly, advertising normally has long-term objectives like building brand awareness or building consumer loyalty or repositioning a brand, sale displays performs an immediate task of increasing current sales. Finally, advertising helps sales by adding some durable and long-term value to the product, while point of sale displays aid selling by temporarily changing the existing price-value relationship of the product.

The above categorization is based on the marketing problem to be tackled. If we look at the target group to whom sale displays measures are normally aimed at, we find four broad target groups, viz. the consumer, the trade or channel and influential groups. Bulk of the sale displays effort is aimed at the consumer and the trade.